Surat, a bomb mine

On the morning after the Ahmedabad serial blasts, The Times of India ran the headline-- 'Bangalore, Ahmedabad. Who's Next?' The answer is here. Surat was the next target. With two explosives amd ammunition-packed cars discovered and a cache of 18 bombs discovered in the bustling city, there's little doubt about that.
Gujarat's second largest city would have sucked into horrific terror had the terrorists succeeded in blowing up what appears to be at least three dozen bombs-- between the incendiary material found in WagonRs on Sunday and the assembled bombs discovered in the densely-populated diamond hub-- a Rs 70,000-crore industry-- on Tuesday.The discovery brought relief but raised deadlier questions. How come a huge operation involving three of the country's largest cities escape the intelligence radar? Did a police crackdown in Surat following the Ahmedabad blasts trigger enough panic among the merchants of death to abandon their deadly cargo? And abandon them carelessly enough to be discovered one after the other-- one of them on a tree top!
The discovery was also often quite by chance. Lace-cloth supplier from Varachha, Sanjay Kaporia (35), for instance, saw something odd in the dustbin outside his shop. Unmindful of the risk, he walked with the live bomb for 22 metres to Labeshwar police chowki. "I thought it is best to bring it here,'' he said.
BJP councillor from Varachha, Bhimji Budhna, also detected one. "I was passing by Mini Market when I saw a green plastic bag stuck between signboards of two shops. It looked like a bomb, like the ones I've seen on TV. So I called the police.''
Surat police commissioner R M S Brar claimed that police informers have said that the bombs were abandoned on Monday night. He has asked for more bomb disposal personnel. Surat's escape from terror was providential. It was clearly on the jehadi crosshairs, even though Surat remained an island of peace while rest of Gujarat burned during 2002 riots.
There were no answers from security agencies, completely confounded by the rapid unfolding of what now has emerged as the biggest serial terror plot in independent India.The first inkling of the impending attacks came on Sunday when the two cars were found with ammonium nitrate, shrapnel, detonators and binding agents for bombs. By Tuesday morning, the evidence was overwhelming. Citizens found 18 more bombs strewn around the buzzing diamond-studded Varachha area, densely-populated marketplaces, road-dividers, a tree and a hoarding on a flyover. Triggers failed in Surat bombs
Ahmedabad/Surat: The 18 bombs, which were discovered by the citizens, were similar to the boat-shaped devices which caused devastation in Ahmedabad on Saturday, killing 52 people. However, unlike the timers used in Ahmedabad, the Surat bombs used integrated circuits as a trigger which, miraculously, malfunctioned.
It was a day of frantic activity as bombs seemed to crop up every hour. An overworked bomb disposal squad rushed from one site to another. The bombs in Varachha were recovered from Matawadi, Mini Bazaar, Bhavna Ford, J D Restaurant and Hira Baug Circle. Other bombs were recovered from Mahidharpura diamond market, Gajera School Circle in Katargam and Bhavani Gems Circle on A K Road. TNN